The questions Kentucky fans should be asking as Pope enters a pivotal offseason
The third Kentucky basketball offseason of the Mark Pope era will look and feel a lot different from the first two. Two years ago, Pope was riding a wave of momentum from his Rupp Arena reintroduction to the UK fans, who were happy with his early transfer portal success and refreshed by a coaching change to move beyond the malaise of the last few years of John Calipari’s tenure.
Last year, there were some misses in the portal, but Pope ultimately put together what looked to be a roster capable of contending at the highest level, while coming off a season in which he overachieved (by most accounts) amid difficult circumstances.
This offseason begins with a feeling of disappointment over how Year 2 went (on and off the court), zero recruits from the high school ranks and a whole lot of questions about the future of the program. Pope has to win in Year 3 to fend off the doubters. First, he’ll have to make the right moves this offseason to ensure that the 2026-27 campaign can be a successful one.
These are the most important questions as Pope dives into the offseason. Who’s coming back for Kentucky? The biggest question of every UK basketball offseason is who will be back from the season that just ended. And that question might be more difficult to answer right now than it’s ever been.
With departing seniors Otega Oweh and Denzel Aberdeen out of the equation — and Jayden Quaintance a near-certainty to enter the 2026 NBA draft — Kentucky still has 11 players with remaining eligibility and a realistic path to return to the Cats for next season. There hasn’t been a UK basketball offseason with this much roster uncertainty in memory, since ample turnover was expected in every year of the Calipari era and rosters were more generally stable in the sport before he arrived in Lexington.
Who will Pope bring back for Year 3? Not all 11 of these guys. Beyond the question of who fits from a chemistry and playing style standpoint, the financials simply won’t align to allow all 11 to return. Kentucky’s payroll for next season is not expected to reach the level of this past season, and even with Oweh, Aberdeen and Quaintance off the books, Pope won’t be able to assure everyone gets compensated at market value while also leaving enough resources to get some game-changing players from outside the program.
The UK coach implied as much during his final radio show of the season Monday night. “Everything is dependent on how it fits into a cap,” Pope said, while later adding that he will have the necessary resources at his disposal to build a national title contender. So, who stays? It starts with Collin Chandler and Malachi Moreno, a couple of starters with multiple seasons of remaining eligibility.
Both seem set on running it back. Pope included Andrija Jelavic, who was also in the starting five by the end of the season, with those two in his postgame comments Sunday. “Those guys have gained some great experience, and they’re going to get better and better and better,” Pope said. “We’ll start there and kind of build out from there.”
If he had the comment back, Pope would likely have thrown Kam Williams into that group. Williams, who also started for this team, has made it clear that he’d like to return to Kentucky, and the chatter behind the scenes says that feeling is mutual on UK’s end. Braydon Hawthorne (a sky-high-upside wing) and Reece Potter (an intriguing depth player in the frontcourt) are expected to return after redshirting this season.
Brandon Garrison, who was relegated to the backup big spot behind Moreno, was, surprisingly, as adamant as anyone in the postgame locker room following the loss to Iowa State on Sunday that he’d like to return to UK next season, even though that would likely mean spending his senior year as a backup to Moreno once again.
That would be seven returnees, and while it’s far from a guarantee that all seven will be back — Garrison and Jelavic, especially, will be two to watch — returning the bulk of that core would be a solid foundation of continuity, something that Pope has stressed the importance of. This isn’t to say some others won’t be back, too. Trent Noah has deep Kentucky ties, and Pope has given him opportunities in big games.
Mouhamed Dioubate was integral to some of UK’s biggest moments this past season and would have a place in the 2026-27 rotation. Jaland Lowe is clearly talented, but his spot might be contingent on Pope’s playing style direction, and he’d be able to fetch a higher NIL figure elsewhere if he’s not at the center of Kentucky’s plans moving forward. Jasper Johnson is widely expected to enter the transfer portal when it opens April 7.
